Finals
by Stixer111
Summary: Avengers College AU. Sequel to: I Think I Like it Here. The one in which they deal with exams. Mild Swearing. Pairings if you squint.


_**A/N- So this was inspired by the fact that I've just finished mocks and boards will start in another few weeks. I've only ever taken one college class, so I have no idea what it's like to study for those finals, though I assume it would be worse than what I'm doing right now.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own any of these guys, but I occasionally put them through a harrowing experience or two**_

The end of the semester, Steve had decided, was the worst possible time to be a student. Why? Well for one reason and one reason alone: Exams. He had thought studying for finals in high school had been tough, but three days into finals week, running on two hours of sleep and boat-loads of Tony's fancy, dark roast coffee, he found himself wishing it was senior year again.

And it wasn't just him.

Tony, who never slept anyway, had permanent, had bruise-like dark circles under his eyes, and blasted Metallica as he read aloud from his engineering text **BOOK**. Clint had taken to studying in the vents and chucking pencils at anyone who happened to be speaking in whichever **ROOM** he was hiding out in. The guy had frighteningly good aim. However, he was nothing compared Natasha, whose well practiced death glares resulted in the hasty retreat of whoever was speaking in her general vicinity. Pepper looked like something out of the Walking Dead (Tony and Darcy had made Steve watch the show when he made the mistake of asking what it was. It was better than it sounded.) and he caught Rhodey trying to plug the toaster into his computer yesterday morning. Steve had had to study (and sleep) in the common room for the first few days because Bruce had locked him and Tony out of their shared room. He couldn't say he minded though, after he heard the muffled bangs coming from the dorm. Tony had just shaken his head and said not to ask. He hadn't seen Darcy or Jane since last weekend, and even Thor was affected. The bear-like man was much quieter, and could be found hunched over a text book in a corner of the common room, and on one memorable occasion doing pushups as he read his History text. Loki hadn't left the Chem lab in days. Even JARVIS had become conspicuously quiet.

It was four days into finals week, when they all had more coffee than blood circulating through their veins, that Steve had the idea that they study together.

"Why?" asked Natasha raising an eyebrow

"Yeah dude, I've got a system, and it's working fine for me." said Clint's disembodied voice

"You're in the vents Clint. The _vents_." said Darcy raising her head from her Women's studies **BOOK**.

"And it's working for me."

"And why" asked Loki petulantly from next to Thor, who had a firm grip on his brother after his last escape attempt, "would I want to study with you people?"

"Because you're failing Literature" snapped Bruce, "which I happen to passing"

Clint sniggered and Loki growled at him. Thor positioned himself between the two as Tony opened his mouth to make a smart-ass comment. The others watched with interest, except for Rhodey, who had fallen asleep against Pepper's shoulder. Steve rubbed his face, and groaned, sensing a fight about to begin.

"Guys, we're going _nuts_." shouted Steve. The **ROOM** fell silent, and Rhodey woke with a start, gazing confusedly around the **ROOM**. "This is the first time we've seen Darcy and Jane in about a week, Tony's been humming the same song for an hour, Loki's out of the Chem lab for the first time in four days and is going through withdrawal, Bruce is snarking at people _way_ more than usual, I don't think I'll ever get the ink stains out of my fingers, Pepper looks like death warmed over, and Rhodey tried to download his breakfast yesterday morning. We need to help each other out."

And that's how they found themselves in the common room at 12 o clock that night, spread out on the floor. Thor had done a sandwich run, and Subway wrappers littered the area around them. Tony, because he was a total coffee snob, refused to drink anything but his special Arabica. He also refused to let _anyone else_ drink anything other than his special Arabica. Not that they were complaining. Dummy acted as a waiter, and so far, hadn't spilled a drop (Tony had pretended to wipe tears of pride from his eyes). They had split off into small groups to study. Natasha, Jane, Darcy, and Pepper had decided to take a general Women's Studies class together, and were huddled in a circle, textbooks in front of them, whispering, and occasionally shooting sly looks at each other. Steve would have been more worried if he hadn't had his hands full helping Tony and Clint with American History. He seemed to have a knack for the subject. The other two? Not so much. Bruce, Thor, Loki, and Rhodey had snagged the beanbags by the big window and had copies of _Hamlet_ on their laps and highlighters between their fingers. Bruce, true to his word, was quite good at grasping the meaning behind the work (which, considering it was Shakespeare, is no easy feat), and Rhodey wasn't half bad either. Together, they seemed to be making progress with the Odinson brothers.

The next morning, Steve woke up to find his head resting on Tony's chest. The smaller man was hugging Steve's arm tightly. He blushed a little, then sat up and gently extracted the limb from Tony's grip. The engineering student just muttered something unintelligible and rolled over, huffing slightly. Steve looked around and found the others in similar positions. Clint had at some point gotten to Natasha, and was now asleep with an arm draped lightly over her middle. The woman in question was curled up almost into a ball, and pressed against her friend. It looked like Darcy, Jane, Thor, and Loki had made a beanbag fortress and the four were asleep in a tangle at the very center. Bruce was propped up against his and Jane's Machine of Unknown Purpose (which was making slight hissing noises. Steve wasn't sure whether he should be worried), his mouth hanging open slightly, and Hamlet discarded next to him (He had used his glasses a bookmark). Pepper was the only one who had had the forethought to grab a pillow and blanket, and was curled up on top of the ping-pong table. Rhodey was lying spread-eagled under the table, with his **BOOK** held open on his face. Steve was tempted to just let them sleep for a few more minutes, until he glanced at his phone.

"_OH SHIT!_ GUYS WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!"

**_A/N- This is a post over from my AO3 account, so it was written earlier this year. The sentiment still stands though, actually, it's stronger seeing as I have now taken multiple college classes. Let me just say, after having memorized 6 weeks of notes in two days, it's a wonder that I'm still a functioning human. Anyway, reviews are appriciated._**


End file.
